FBI Headquarters
When Lynch entered the conference room an hour later, it was full of noise and chaos erupting from several sleek executives plus Noah’s two bodyguards.
Noah himself broke free of the people surrounding him the moment he saw Lynch. “Lynch, they told me you were hurt.” He hurried toward him. He shook his head as he saw the cut on his temple. “That’s terrible. But you were lucky to escape with only that wound. I’m sure it could’ve been much worse.” He smiled tentatively. “Maybe they’ll give you a Purple Heart or something?”
“Not likely. The mission was a failure. We’ll be fortunate if we can get Dee out of this alive now.” He took a step closer. “Most of the time, kidnappers feel they have an obligation to kill their victims if the deal falls through.” His voice suddenly turned savage. “Maybe you didn’t know that or didn’t believe it. Why else would you deliberately cause it to happen?”
“It wasn’t my fault.” Noah nervously moistened his lips. “How could you think it was? Delilah and I are friends. At one point we were almost more than that. All I could think of was getting her away from those scumbags. The minute I heard this had happened, I started an investigation to find out how I’d been betrayed. They can’t do that to me.”
“You’ve been betrayed?” Lynch repeated silkily. “I’d think it was Dee who’d been betrayed, wouldn’t you? She’s the one whose severed head may end up being delivered to us because you let this happen.”
“I meant that, of course. We were both betrayed.” His lips pursed pettishly. “But I seem to be the one getting the blame and it’s not what I deserve. I was trying to save her. I did everything right.”
“Then how did right become so damn wrong? You have one minute to tell me before I take you apart.”
“You might have difficulty with that.” He glanced at his bodyguards across the room. “But I’ll forgive your rudeness because of what you went through today.”
“Thank you. You’re too kind,” Lynch said. “I’m accustomed to difficulty; sometimes I even embrace it. You’re running out of time, Noah.”
“I told you, I was betrayed.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “You don’t understand how a man of my means and influence can be constantly surrounded by people who want to catch the brass ring or punish me for having it. I suspect it must have been one of my executives who changed my orders.”
“Why?”
“Well, when I was arranging for the money, my financial advisors kept telling me that we should hedge the bet, that there were all kinds of ways to save those millions and still keep Delilah alive. I listened to them, of course, who wouldn’t? But naturally I turned them down.”
“Naturally. Yet they still managed to get those trackable bands in my backpack.”
“I believe one of my executives might have thought I was interested in what those financial advisors were proposing and arranged to do it for me himself. He probably thought that once the switch was completed successfully, I’d thank him…and it would put him first on the list for promotions.” He frowned. “I was just attempting to start questioning my staff when you came bursting into the room.”
“So you didn’t know anything about it?”
“I told you that I didn’t. It was done by someone who either wanted to please me, or wanted to ruin my reputation. Either way I’m also being hurt by this terrible injustice.” He lifted his chin. “Now may I go back and continue interrogating my employees so that I can determine who is guilty?”
Lynch gazed at him appraisingly. Noah could be telling the truth, or he could be lying like a rug. He was inclined to believe the latter. But since he’d been in charge of the ransom, he was still responsible for what had happened to it either way. “You mean who else is guilty?” He dropped down in a chair at the conference table. “Yes, feel free to question them to your heart’s content. I’ll just stay here and watch and listen. Then when you’ve decided who you think ‘betrayed’ you, I’ll have my own turn at talking to him. I believe I’ve earned that right, haven’t I?”
“It might go faster if you’re not here.” Noah was nibbling at his lower lip. “You might make them nervous.”
“You think so?” Lynch smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Good. After what happened today, that’s a response I’ll definitely appreciate.”
* * *
Kelland’s Office
FBI Headquarters
“This is crazy.” Kendra gazed in frustration at the computer screen reflecting the wall of the mausoleum. “Why haven’t we heard?” She couldn’t understand why there hadn’t been an answer to the message at the cemetery for the last four hours. The message had gone up on the mausoleum within forty-five minutes of when Kelland had called in the order to his men. The media had been having a field day, building suspense, then crushing it, then starting the process all over again.
“They have to have seen that message,” Jessie said through set teeth. “Everyone in the damn country must know that we’ve been practically begging those scumbags to give us another chance.”
“Yes, we have,” Kelland said. “In the most humiliating way possible. The only reason I haven’t been asked to turn in my badge yet is that the director is hoping desperately I might turn into a hero and save the day.” He grimaced. “Not likely. There couldn’t be a more public revelation of inefficiency than that message on the mausoleum.”
“Yet you didn’t bat an eyelash when we asked you to do it,” Kendra said. She’d been in such a frantic hurry to try to save Dee that she hadn’t realized what a career breaker this might prove for Kelland. “You only wondered if it would work.”
“I couldn’t do anything else,” he said wearily. “I’m a good agent. My job was to save Delilah Winter’s life. We’d just heard from the Denver office. They checked surveillance cameras in and around coffee shops in a sixteen-block radius of Adrian Nash’s hotel, The Brown Palace. They got Nash walking south from his hotel one day, but he disappears from view pretty quickly. Naturally there’s no footage of him meeting with that Cabot guy who solicited his help in the abduction scheme.”
Kendra shook her head. “Damn.”
“Yeah. So your idea to contact the kidnappers may be the best shot we have right now. It didn’t matter that I ended up looking like an asshole bungler who let myself be manipulated.” His lip curled bitterly. “No, I can’t say it didn’t matter. I’m mad as hell.”
“So was Lynch,” Kendra said. “He said he couldn’t let it go.”
“Neither can I. But I was busy here, so when Lynch called and told me he was interrogating Noah and all his executives, I gave him permission. Not exactly protocol, but I knew Lynch was just as pissed off as I was. I want answers.” He shrugged. “I figured Lynch would get them for me.”
“You have amazing faith in him. Even though he was possibly suffering a concussion?”
“He refused treatment. He can take care of himself.” He glanced at her face. “You must agree. You told me when you got here that you knew he was on his way to see Noah.”